A variety of unmanned aerial vehicles, colloquially known as drones, have been developed for military, reconnaissance and recreational uses such as aerial photography. UAVs can be gas-powered or electrically powered and can be fixed-wing or rotary-wing.
Reconnaissance UAVs are well suited to monitor or surveil remotely sites, remotely situated infrastructure or other features on the ground which cannot be easily accessed by land such as, for example, oil or water pipelines, electric power lines, coastlines, farmland, borders, forest fires, natural disasters, etc.
There is accordingly a need in the industry for improved unmanned aerial vehicles capable of performing extended, long-distance aerial surveillance.